“The Mets hunted feverishly for back-of-the-bullpen arms and top-of-the-rotation starters, and never got anywhere in their runs at the likes of Gagne, Zack Greinke, Chad Cordero, Joe Blanton and Dontrelle Willis.”

…the Mets did not come away without a relief pitcher due to a lack of looking, that is for certain…nevertheless, i sense that many fans are disappointed…as am i, but i’m not sure what else Omar Minaya could have done…

…for starters, i do not get a sense they really pushed hard for Octavio Dotel, nor did a lot of teams…from what i can gather, most teams dubbed him as less than focused, with concerns about his velocity and command, and outside of the Braves, the Dodgers were most interested, but not to the extent of giving up a major-league ready pitcher, which is what kansas city was pushing for…so, if that’s the case, even if you wanted dotel, who on the Mets would have even met that value…

…to getChad Cordero, it would have cost Philip Humber and either Carlos Gomez, Lastings Milledge or Fernando Martinez…from what i can gather, to getEricGagne, it would have cost at least pelfrey and a guy likeMike Carp, or gomez or milledge and a guy likeKevin Mulvey…

…the Royals did not want to tradeZack Greinke, though they were open to hearing out offers…the same went forDontrelle Willis, and to get blanton, again, it would have cost milledge and, at least, pelfrey or humber…

…so, basically, of the people they had serious interest in, the legitimate, accessible options were gagne and cordero…

Cordero, who is 1–2 with a 2.60 ERA, is not eligible to be a free agent until after 2009.

Gagne, who is 2–0 with a 2.16 ERA, is a free agent at the end of this season.

In his report, Stark quotes a scout as saying of Gagne…

“His stuff isn’t nearly what people think it is…His changeup is elevated. The velocity he used to have on his fastball, he no longer has. So he has to rely on that changeup, and it just doesn’t have the stop and dive it used to have. For me, he’s not a difference-maker.”